Welcome Swallow

Hirundo neoxena

The welcome swallow is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae that is native to Australia and nearby islands. It has self-introduced into New Zealand in the middle of the twentieth century. It is very similar to the Pacific swallow with which it is often considered conspecific. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 94,413 times across 24 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 20°C (typically 14 to 25°C, from 10 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Oceania ranged from 38°S in September to 25°S in November, about 1,400 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.